I thought I’d start a thread on albums which you can’t find on Tidal / Qobuz. Things change all the time with licensing, and albums move in and out of all the various services. Some albums are missing tracks on streaming. So I continue to invest in some recordings because I want them - buying CDs on Discogs / eBay. And sometimes when I see something at a thrift store or charity shop I buy it just because it’s inexpensive and I’m paranoid and want a local copy “just in case of a rainy day”.
So here are a few things I’m glad I have in my local library - I’ll start with ones that aren’t available (or only a few tracks) on Qobuz, Tidal or both.
Gold Sounds, the Pavement tribute jazz album that @Jazzfan_NJ turned me onto recently, which is surreally good because, well, look at who’s playing (James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, plus…) and the source material, it’s crazy.
A bunch of soundtracks that make for great “sounds of an era” listening, like Almost Famous, or the Forrest Gump soundtrack, or Breaking the Waves…
And that’s before I get into my old 80’s hardcore & punk & 90’s grunge albums that didn’t make it to “posterity”…
The Finnish jazz/creative music label TUM Records only releases as CD. Much outstandingly recorded Wadada Leo Smith solo and ensemble work, with excellent album/boxset writing and art:
Like TUM, John Zorn’s Tzadik label as very few, if any, recordings available as downloads or on any streaming service. One of my favorite of John Zorn’s many ensembles and projects is Masada, in all it’s various formats. Below are the 35 (one is not John Zorn) recordings I have in my Roon library. Not all of them are on Tzadik. Some are on the Japanese label DIW and a few are bootlegs. Happy hunting!
Ok, thanks already @Jazzfan_NJ and @Fernando_Pereira … I just placed my first Bandcamp purchase (America’s National Parks, listening to now albeit only on my kitchen Sonos and it’s pretty remarkable, looking forward to a more serious listen), and the two most referred to “starter” John Zorn purchases from the Masada cycle (Circle Maker and Bar Khokba) that are coming on Tuesday. I’ve typically been much more rooted in the 50’s and 60’s bop, hard bop, post-bop, jazz funk, through Medeski Martin & Wood etc, and have only really reached out to Matthew Shipp & Don Pullen through my love of the piano as an instrument. Many thanks for stretching me a bit!
Also very interested in folks who have rec’s from other genres… I feel like this topic of the recordings that we love that we had to hunt for is Roon Central.
I also have two LPs in my vinyl collection by the late Bay area jazz icon, Bishop Norman Williams. Both are on Theresa Records: “Bishop’s Bag” (1978) and “One For Bird”(1979)
On a related note, has anyone figured out a way to create a list of albums that are in the local library but not available on streaming services?
I’d like to have such albums in a separate folder or perhaps a separate USB drive.
I’m wondering if this is possible with Soundiiz or some app with access to Tidal/Qobuz API?
Or perhaps there’s a simpler way and I’m overthinking it?
A way to do it manually is to click the album, then Versions. If nothing shows in Tidal or Qobuz, tag it. I do this with albums that are in Tidal or Qobuz, but not both.
I’m also going to throw De La Soul out… because 3 Feet High and Rising is coming to streaming soon, but it sure has been a while I’m really glad I had that old scratched up cd!
Starting this thread has made me go back and find all kinds of stuff that I ripped 20+ years ago, and I haven’t listened to that much since then, and the CDs themselves are up in the attic and collecting dust. This is a fantastic anthology - and made for discovery and re-discovery… Ancient audio with ancient audio quality (a few old cylinder recordings), and some truly offensive material (minstrel shows were alive and well and show up here), but also some fabulous music “from before the dawn of jazz” (review’s phrase) that I don’t know where else I’d find.
